The United States government on Thursday said 366 new cases of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) had been reported to intelligence agencies since March 2021.
The newly added reports join 144 cases documented over the previous 17 years, according to the 2022 report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).
The U.S. has collected 510 reports of unidentified flying objects, over triple the number in its 2021 file, many of which were reported flying in sensitive military airspace.
While there’s no evidence of extraterrestrials, the government said in the declassified report summary that they still pose a threat.
While drones or balloons caused many, hundreds remain unexplained, the report said. I noted that, in addition, most of the new information comes from U.S. Navy and Air Force pilots.
Last year the Pentagon opened an All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, solely focused on receiving and analyzing all those reports of unidentified phenomena. In addition, it works with intelligence agencies to further assess those incidents.
The events “continue to occur in restricted or sensitive airspace, highlighting possible concerns for the safety of flight or adversary collection activity,” the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said.
The classified version of the report addresses how many of those objects were found near locations where nuclear power plants operate or nuclear weapons are stored.
The report said that in both the old and new cases, after analysis, the majority have been determined to exhibit “unremarkable characteristics” and could be characterized as unmanned aircraft systems or balloon-like objects.
But the office is also tasked with reporting any movements or reports of objects that may indicate that a potential adversary has a new technology or capability.
The Pentagon’s anomaly office includes any unidentified objects moving underwater, in the air, or space, or something that moves between those domains, which could pose a new threat.
ODNI said efforts to destigmatize reporting and emphasize that the objects may pose a threat likely contributed to the additional pieces.
The report came after years of pressure from Congress for the military and intelligence community to take seriously what was formerly called UFOs, or unidentified flying objects.
The U.S. military is worried some of the past UAPs spotted by military pilots may represent technologies of strategic rivals unknown to U.S. scientists.
The Pentagon previously called them unidentified aerial phenomena but has now changed them to unidentified anomalous phenomena to include air, space, and maritime domains.
In 2020, the Pentagon released a still inexplicable video by navy pilots of objects moving at incredible speeds, spinning, and mysteriously disappearing.
“We take reports of incursions into our designated space, land, sea, or airspaces seriously and examine each one,” said Pentagon Spokesman Pat Ryder.
